Servant of the Axe - Not Welcome Here

Chapter Type: Character Development, Time Skip

The captain gave the command to weigh anchors when signaled by the Daurian patrol.  The metal gourds we saw were still upright; the merchant had warned us about them.  Siege weapons of some kind or other, though he had been guarded about the specifics of how they worked.

For their part, the trader pulled up between two ships, lowered anchor, and was boarded from both sides.

I sighed.  "Bosun Melody, we may want to call as many of our crew to the deck as possible.  Better they be seen openly rather than disturbed below."

"We're already preparing for those barbarians to rifle through our hold.  Now, they're going to go through our sailors, as well?"

"Oh, what does he want now?" the captain called from the aftdeck.

"He wants us to muster the crew on deck." She hollered back.